Whole Foods, Wegmans, Costco, Others Impacted by Fruit Recall

A nationwide recall of stone fruits, such as peaches, plums and nectarines, across the nation has prompted retailers such as Costco, Wegmans, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods Market to issue recalls for in-store fruit-baked products, due to the risk of listeria infection. 

The stone fruit recall was initially announced by the FDA on July 19, after California based Wawona Packaging Co. performed in house testing of the fruit products that identified the presence of listeria monocytogens, a harmful and sometimes potentially life-threatening foodborne infection.

While there have been no confirmed reports of food poisoning received to date, the recall has impacted multiple grocery chains across the nation, which have been forced to recall made-in-store products prepared with organic and conventional stone fruit, including peaches, nectarines, and plums. Many of the grocery stores purchased the contaminated fruit whole sale from Wawona Packaging Co. to prepare store baked goods.

Retailers affected by the fruit recall include Costco, Wegman’s, Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods Market, which just released an individual recall on July 23.

Wegman’s was the first to announce the fruit recall at the retailer level on June 20, just a day after distributors recall was initiated. Wegman’s recall consists of a variety of fresh baked cakes, pies, tarts, and other pastries.

A large portion of Wegman’s recall includes flavored whip creams, cheesecakes, short cakes, fruit strips, fruit tarts, trifles, and crostata’s. For a full list of recalled products and UPC codes please visit http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm405956.htm?source=govdelivery&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

A Whole Foods stone fruit product recall was announced on Wednesday, affecting all made-in-store cakes, tarts, salsas, and prepared salads that were sold in the Market between June 1^st and July 21^st. The products were sold using Whole Foods scale labels in all states where Whole Foods Market stores are located except Florida, Washington and Oregon. The company also pulled and destroyed all fruit with “Sweet 2 Eat” stickers in all regions where the contaminated fruit could have been shipped.

Trader Joe’s posted a recall announcement on their store website on July 20, immediately following the distributor recall alerting customers that organic or regular white or yellow nectarines, organic yellow peaches, white and yellow peaches, and plums sold in 4 pound boxes from June 2 through July 19, may be contaminated with listeria monocytogens.

Costco has also taken precaution by sending warning letters to customers who may have purchased affected 5 pound boxes of peaches or nectarines from June 1 to July 19 marked with the UPC Code CA-6910.

Symptoms of listeria typically involve muscle ache, nausea, diarrhea, headache, and fever but in more severe cases the infection can spread to the blood stream and nervous system causing meningitis and other potentially fatal complications. Those most impacted by the infection typically have weakened immune systems such as elderly, young children or pregnant women.

Each grocery retailer recalling the Wawona Packaging Co. fruit products is to discard the remains and contact the grocery store where the products were purchased for instructions on how to obtain a full refund.

Photo courtesy of Muffet on flickr / C.C. by 2.0